England and Wales Cricket Board agrees to cover any Hampshire Cricket ticket losses for first three days of England v India Test match at Ageas Bowl

THE biggest marketing campaign in Hampshire Cricket history has ensured a near-capacity crowd will watch the first day of the third Test between England and India.

But ticket sales have been poor for the rest of the The Ageas Bowl’s second Test, due to a combination of poor scheduling and England’s poor form.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has agreed to cover any losses over the first three days, having provided marketing support when the Ageas Bowl was allocated the third Test of a five-Test series that lasts less than six weeks.

It is also the first Test to begin in England on a Sunday and is taking place at the beginning of the school holidays – when many families are away.

If that has not made selling tickets hard enough, England practise at The Ageas Bowl today on the back of a 95-run humbling at Lord’s with Alastair Cook under considerable pressure as captain of his country’s worst team for 15 years.

Given all that, Hampshire have done very well to sell around 15,000 tickets, out of a capacity of approximately 17,000, for the opening day.

Hampshire are hopeful more than 10,000 will be in attendance on day two, while around 7,000 have been sold for day three.

Commercial director Stuart Robertson said: “When the schedule was announced the ECB recognised it wasn’t going to be that easy so we’ve worked together to make the best of it and we’re really pleased with the support they’ve given us.

“The scheduling has had an impact on sales but it’s a challenge we’ve taken on with the biggest marketing project we’ve ever done.

“We’re doing everything we possibly can.

“The lion’s share of our ticket sales have been within our usual catchment area – from mid-Dorset to Swindon, back down to Andover, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight – but we’ve reached out to Slough and Harrow, big Asian populations up the M3 corridor.

“We’ve done every form of advertising except on television.

“I’m very happy with the campaign we put together.”

Despite the disappointing sales, the Ageas Bowl is assured bigger crowds than it had for its inaugural Test against Sri Lanka three years ago, when only 6,439 turned up for the rain-affected first day.

“If we can grow our Test audience every time we have one that’s a great strategy to work towards,” added Robertson.

Assuming all goes well, it is hoped Hampshire’s third Test will be of the Ashes variety, with the bidding process for the 2019 series due to begin in the next six months.

So Commercial director Stuart Robertson said (taken from the second part of his quote) “We’ve done every form of advertising except on television" Where I ask? Funny enough I work on 6 of the biggest magazines in the Bournemouth/Poole/Ch
ristchurch area reaching over 250k people and guess what, I have not had one call from their marketing team, nor have they returned any of may calls. This bad planning has gone a long long way in the failure of their plans....So Mr Robertson, if you want help its not to late you just need to tell your team to find me, though I like HCC so I may try to find you to offer help :-)

So Commercial director Stuart Robertson said (taken from the second part of his quote) “We’ve done every form of advertising except on television" Where I ask? Funny enough I work on 6 of the biggest magazines in the Bournemouth/Poole/Ch
ristchurch area reaching over 250k people and guess what, I have not had one call from their marketing team, nor have they returned any of may calls. This bad planning has gone a long long way in the failure of their plans....So Mr Robertson, if you want help its not to late you just need to tell your team to find me, though I like HCC so I may try to find you to offer help :-)bsjc1234

Have to say for many test matches are the dullest form of cricket. One day internationals and T20 will always draw more people to watch as its a more exciting form of cricket for the most part.

Have to say for many test matches are the dullest form of cricket. One day internationals and T20 will always draw more people to watch as its a more exciting form of cricket for the most part.saintsfan76

I also work for a local group of news papers and contacted The Ageas Bowl on a number of occasions and have not received a reply

Has any offer been made to local cricket clubs where they could buy reduced price tickets? Or a group package.

Does anybody know what time and when the teams are due to practice and can the public watch?

Totally agree cost of tickets is to high
I also work for a local group of news papers and contacted The Ageas Bowl on a number of occasions and have not received a reply
Has any offer been made to local cricket clubs where they could buy reduced price tickets? Or a group package.
Does anybody know what time and when the teams are due to practice and can the public watch?Shark1

saintsfan76 wrote:
Have to say for many test matches are the dullest form of cricket. One day internationals and T20 will always draw more people to watch as its a more exciting form of cricket for the most part.

Ever heard of The Ashes? You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

[quote][p][bold]saintsfan76[/bold] wrote:
Have to say for many test matches are the dullest form of cricket. One day internationals and T20 will always draw more people to watch as its a more exciting form of cricket for the most part.[/p][/quote]Ever heard of The Ashes? You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.Red_Rock

saintsfan76 wrote:
Have to say for many test matches are the dullest form of cricket. One day internationals and T20 will always draw more people to watch as its a more exciting form of cricket for the most part.

Clearly you are no cricket fan!

[quote][p][bold]saintsfan76[/bold] wrote:
Have to say for many test matches are the dullest form of cricket. One day internationals and T20 will always draw more people to watch as its a more exciting form of cricket for the most part.[/p][/quote]Clearly you are no cricket fan!bigfella

The Good Ship Hardy wrote:
I had two pretty awful days at the Sri Lanka Test (Days 1 and 3). I said I'd never return but if KP was in the team I would have done. He isn't so I wont be going

Excellent news all round then.

[quote][p][bold]The Good Ship Hardy[/bold] wrote:
I had two pretty awful days at the Sri Lanka Test (Days 1 and 3). I said I'd never return but if KP was in the team I would have done. He isn't so I wont be going[/p][/quote]Excellent news all round then.Red_Rock